Celebrate Thanksgiving with Books Part 1

I know today is Halloween, but I found so many great Thanksgiving books, I just had to get started early! Here are just some of the good ones I’ve found. Over the next 2 weeks, I’ll tell you about more.

One is a Feast for Mouse by Judy Cox, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler

It’s Thanksgiving Day and Mouse raids the leftovers. He spots one pea, a perfect feast, but he cannot help adding all of the fixings – until Cat spots him. What an outstanding book! This book BEGS to be read aloud. It reads like the best unrhymed poetry and the pictures are exactly right.

Life on the Mayflower by Jessica Gunderson, illustrated by Brian Caleb Dumm

This book describes the voyage of the Mayflower. For 65 days, the Pilgrims lived in dark, cramped spaces, endured stormy seas, sickness and no fresh food. The middle grade text is easy to follow and is supported by excellent illustrations. There are 4 additional books in this Thanksgiving series.

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac

This book takes a new look at Thanksgiving and tries to put aside the myths. It is based on the research done at Plimouth Plantation, which is a living history museum of 17th century Plymouth, Massachusetts. many of the photographs in the book were taken during a reenactment of the 1621 harvest gathering . The text is at a middle school level.

I Know and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson, illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner

You may know the song, I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly. Well, this is a Thanksgiving version with the old woman eating just about everything at the dinner in an effort to counteract her too-dry pie. Great fun!

The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward, illustrated by James Watling

This is a Step Into Reading, Step 2 book. It tells the story of the voyage of the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving simply and clearly.

Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne

Jack and Annie travel in their Magic Tree House to the New Plymouth Colony in the year 1621. They celebrate the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians. I like how this series tells important stories in clear and interesting ways.

Pilgrims : a nonfiction companion to Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne

This book gives lots of information about the Mayflower’s voyage, the life of a Pilgrim, Wampanoag daily life, the first Thanksgiving and more.

Silly Tilly’s Thanksgiving Dinner by Lillian Hoban

Silly Tilly is a mole who is quite forgetful. She nearly succeeds in ruining her Thanksgiving dinner, but her animal friends come to her rescue. This book is part of the Silly Tilly series and is an I Can Read Book.

Thanksgiving: The True Story by Penny Colman

Looking for LOTS of information about Thanksgiving? This is your book! With over 140 pages of text, it covers the first Thanksgiving, twentieth-century Thanksgiving Day holiday traditions, and the 1621 celebrations of the English colonists and the Wampanoag and discusses the truth of the "Pilgrim and Indian" story.

I hope these books get you started thinking about Thanksgiving. Do you have books you want to add to the list? Write them in the Comments box so I can use them in the next Thanksgiving posts!

Gail